


Stardom (temporary title)

by roseisnotokay



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 09:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17805449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseisnotokay/pseuds/roseisnotokay
Summary: So basically this is another shitty romance novel but like it's gay so it's different lmao.So Rory Stevens, who's an athlete and a pretty popular guy, is kinda taken by surprise when Roman James, a world-famous actor, transfers to his high school at the beginning of senior year. They talk for like two weeks and they end up going out uh follow the rest of their journey here.disclaimer: I'm 2 years old so I have no clue what high school is like okay cool thanks





	Stardom (temporary title)

Rory woke up grudgingly, the taste of his breath disgusting him. He smacked his lips a few times, but to no avail. He eventually just turned the pillow over and smashed it into the back of his head, pressing his face into his mattress, smelling it. It didn’t smell too bad. It was just the familiar scent of himself, a little old and slightly unclean, but it was still his scent.

That slightly comforting him, he sat up, and stretched, allowing his pale, muscular arms to flex. He ruffled his jet black hair a little, which got it all in his gray eyes, but he didn’t mind, honestly. He brushed it away, then looked at the clock.

5:30. Not too bad. Rory decided that he would have time for a shower, so he stood up, looked at himself in the floor-length mirror on his wall, and once he registered that he was, in fact, in his familiar, tall, shirtless figure, he moved into his own bathroom, taking off his pants in the process. He turned on the shower, then finished taking off the rest of his clothes.  
Once he got into the shower, he started thinking about today’s events. They would be normal. Go through the school day, go to soccer practice, everything was normal- besides the fact that he had to show a new student around the school. He was what his school called an ‘injury mentor,’ which was basically someone who helps someone with injuries until they get off their crutches or something. Anyway, sometimes injury mentors help new students that come in during the school year.

And that’s exactly what Rory was doing today. He would be helping a new kid around for about a week, then he would let the kid go die in the wilderness of Maple High School.  
He scrubbed his hair, trying to put the images of soccer practice into his head rather than thoughts of showing another random girl that would probably end up liking him around his school. Good scented shampoo. Called, ‘Moroccan Shine.’ It smelled like coconut, and Rory was not ever going to admit to anyone that he used girl’s shampoo, because that kind of shit could absolutely ruin his incredibly high reputation.

After getting out of the shower, he blow-dried his hair as quickly as possible, then combed it into his signature hairstyle, a quiff with a large curl by his left eye. He touched the beauty mark that was close to his left eye as well, then walked back into his room with his towel tied around his waist.

As he bent over his dresser to pick out clothes, there was a knock at his door.

“Rory?”

“What?”

His sister opened the door and immediately screamed. “Rory, you could have told me you didn’t have clothes on!”

“You didn’t have to come in.” Rory selected a shirt.

“Well, I would have liked to know before I did!”

“What do you want?” Rory began to put his shirt on.

Maddison sighed. “If your mentee is a celebrity, can you get me their autograph?”

“I highly doubt that my mentee is going to be a celebrity.” Rory slid briefs on underneath the towel. “Besides, the only celebrity you care about is Roman James. I doubt it’s going to be him.”

Roman James. God, even his name made Rory want to retch. He was probably the most talked-about kid on the planet. He played Disney Channel’s first openly gay character, and once all of the stans had found his Instagram account, he blew up. He was only seventeen, just like Rory, but holy shit, he was important to literally everyone. He acted on several different channels now, including a few adult ones, and he had gone on The Tonight Show and Ellen a few times as well, so basically everyone knew his name.

Rory disliked him, because he was so tired of hearing his name everywhere. He was so done with having ‘Roman James’ being brought up in every single conversation he had.

“You never know.” Maddison sighed. “So, please? Even if it isn’t him, I can still sell any autograph on eBay for a few hundred dollars. Please, Ror?”

Rory sighed, pulling his pants on. “Fine.”

Maddison then left afterwards, and Rory finished pulling on his high-tops, then stood, grabbing his varsity jacket. He knew he would have to go to school early, so he pushed in a little cereal and went to go start his car.  
The chilly September breeze bit at his nose as he got into his incredibly nice car (he did live in LA, after all), slammed the door and tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel. He then turned the ignition, started the car, and carefully pulled out of the driveway, careful to look at his rearview mirror. Driving down the street, he looked at doors of houses, looking at decorations on porches. The landscaping in this neighborhood was absolutely gorgeous, and Rory gazed at it for a little, enjoying the way those bushes curved… he smiled, and continued on to school.

It was a good thing that he was in a good mood, because when he walked into the vice principal’s office, he was greeted by a rather unexpected surprise.

He didn’t like it that much, either.

Because sitting in a chair with his backpack at his feet, smiling softly up at Rory with perfect white teeth, was none other than Roman James.

Rory almost screamed at the irony of the conversation that he had with Maddison earlier. He tried a winning smile down at the curly-headed boy, to which he was responded with with another soft smile.

Why was he blushing? Why was he blushing?!

Rory shook it off as the vice principal began to talk.

“Rory, this is Roman. I guess you know who he is, though, with you teens and your pop culture.” He laughed, even though he wasn’t funny. Rory pretended not to notice that Roman was looking at his small, dainty feet, biting his lower lip while still smiling, blushing softly. He pretended to not notice how Roman’s soft curls bounced a little as he moved his head. He pretended not to notice the adorable way he was sitting, the warm, tan color of his skin, or the tiny dots speckling themselves on his hands, his neck, and most importantly, his nose and cheekbones, or his perfectly straight white teeth, which looked like little pearls-

“So, Rory! You can go show him around the school, and when school starts, you take him to his classes, and that’s all there is to it!” The vice principal said, grinning.

“Uh… does he have a… uh, copy of his schedule?” Rory asked.

“Oh, yes!” The vice principal nodded and walked over to his desk, then searched through a few piles of paper to find Roman’s schedule. He handed it to Rory once he had found it, and patted Rory on the shoulder, allowing Rory to motion to Roman to follow him. Roman did so, picking up his backpack and putting it on, and walking briskly to catch up with Rory.

Rory took a deep breath after a few seconds of emotionally preparing himself to talk to Roman. “So… my name’s Rory. I mean- I just thought we should have a proper… uh… introduction, y’know?”

“You seem really on edge,” Roman commented, giggling, and Rory almost fainted at the sweet sound of his voice. “But yeah.”

He looked away, blushing. “My name’s Roman. I guess you really do already know that, though.”

Rory nodded, trying to prepare himself for more words, but Roman spoke first, looking at Rory’s varsity jacket. “You play… varsity soccer, varsity basketball, and… varsity baseball! That’s cool.”

“Yeah,” Rory managed to get out. “I play baseball during the summer, too.”

Roman smiled. “Are you a senior?”

Rory nodded. “I’m seventeen.”

“Same! When’s your birthday?”

Rory was surprised by the amount of effort Roman was putting into this conversation. He had fully expected a big celebrity like him to just walk off and hang out with the popular girls. “January 3rd.”

“Oh, you’re just a few months older than me. Mine’s April 27th.”

Rory snorted. “I knew that- not because I’m a stalker, my sister talks all the time about you, so-”

“Are you one of those guys that can’t talk to gay guys?” Roman asked, smile fading for a little.

Holy shit, his eyes were blue. Holy shit, his face was perfect-

“Yeah- I mean, no, I mean- I’m bi.” Rory tried an awkward smile, and Roman broke out into soft peals of laughter. Rory swore, it was the most lovely and clear sound in the world, like it was a beautiful, clear-toned bell.

“Okay, good. I don’t know how I would be able to be friends with some straight guy that acts weird around me.”

Rory reddened. “You want… to be friends with…”

He pointed to himself. “Me?”

Roman nodded, smiling. “I was kind of hoping. You know… it might be hard to make friends?”

“Are you joking? You’re Roman James. You’ve literally been everybody’s conversation topic since the first episode of that show came out. You’ll have no problem making friends. I don’t know why you’d want to be friends with me,  
I’m a pretty boring person and I don’t deserve you.”

Roman shrugged. “And you’re Rory Stevens. I want to be friends with you.”

“How do you know my last name?” Rory raised an eyebrow.

“Mr. Hoven told me. I like your name. It’s cute.” Roman smiled, and kept walking. “Like a lion. Rory. It’s adorable.”

“You’re adorable,” Rory replied, then walked ahead of Roman, flushing pink, in awe that he was able to say that.

Roman jogged up to him and began to walk at Rory’s pace. “You really think so?”

“I mean, you have cute curls, cute eyes, a cute nose…” Rory realized what he was saying, and he coughed, turning back towards where Roman’s locker was supposed to be. He could practically hear the smile on Roman’s face.  
“Uh… this is your locker. 939, right?”

“Yep.” Roman smiled up at him, pushing his stuff into his new locker. “I’m too short to reach the top shelf, so I guess I won’t use that.”

“Yeah, well you have me, so I can reach the top shelf for you.”

Roman smiled. “Thank you. How tall are you, anyway?”

“Six foot five.”

Roman’s jaw almost dropped. He looked up at Rory. “I don’t think I can even jump that high.”

“I mean, you can try. You’ve got-” He looked down at Roman’s legs, which were perfectly accented by his- holy shit, skin-tight skinny jeans, and they showed off his large thighs, pretty calves- “-uh, really strong-looking legs.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. You can try and jump if you want.”

Roman seemed to brace himself, then leapt as high as he could, clearing about six feet. Rory grinned. “Five inches to go.”

Roman smirked. “That’s what she said.”

Rory raised his eyebrows. “Wow. I didn’t think you would be the type to say that kind of stuff.”

Roman blushed and looked away. “Sorry. That’s what he said.”

Rory burst out laughing. Roman was starting to grow on him a lot. Maybe he wasn’t really annoying as Rory had thought.

 

Roman ended up having four classes with Rory, and those were two of his main classes (first period English and third period Math), and two electives (second period Spanish and fourth period orchestra). Rory enjoyed every second of class that he got to spend with Roman, because talking with him was actually pretty fun- a contrast from the boring talking he did with other kids.

But of course there were the fans that just had to suck up to Roman while he was in the middle of telling Rory about his family, his life outside of acting, and other interesting things about him. A few of Rory’s friends came up and started cracking jokes about Roman, but Rory told them to piss off and continued talking to Roman once his well-meaning (but annoying) fans had left.

And Rory couldn’t help but notice how attractive Roman was. His face was expressive, but every expression he made was adorable, the way he looked down, biting his lip and smiling whenever Rory complimented him was gorgeous. His curly brown hair with shaved sides, his ears pierced with tiny golden hoops, his freckles, his small form, his tanned skin, his plump, pink lips, and his eyes. God, his blue eyes. The ones that pupils seemed to dilate when they looked at Rory. The ones that were a beautiful ocean blue, with little specks of gold dancing throughout. The ones that crinkled up whenever he let out a particularly large smile.

As Rory tried to fall asleep that night, he couldn’t help but think of those blue eyes gazing softly at him. His heart leapt, and holy fuck, the realization that he got about Roman suddenly hit him.  
He even whispered it out loud.

“Shit, I have a crush on him.”

 

Roman washed his curls, thinking about what this new day would bring. Of course, more school, but he was excited. He hadn’t gone to a public school in at least five years, so it was really cool to be back in one.  
He had already made three friends. One was an incredibly nice cheer captain named Callie who was very popular, and the other was a pretty nerdy (but cute) guy named Jake. But the third one had really swept Roman off his feet.  
Rory Stevens. Holy shit. Roman didn’t know how he was able to even talk to Rory. He was tall, handsome as hell, and so nice to Roman that he was sure that he was going to shit himself smiling the next time they talked.  
He was an athlete too, and Roman knew how athletes were portrayed in the media. Like huge sexy guardians that would date movie stars or models. That was Roman’s small-minded interpretation, anyway. But he didn’t think Rory would want to date him anyway.

That didn’t stop him from having a crush on Rory.

Roman caught himself in English staring across the room at Rory, admiring his messy jet black hair, his gray eyes that flicked across the pages of a book he was reading, his thin wire, round glasses, his pale skin, his large frame, his muscular arms, the way his thin, pale lips pulled up into a smile whenever he read something amusing, the red and white varsity jacket that adorned his shoulders, the way he conducted himself with grace that made him look like the sexiest human alive, and the way he looked up and made eye contact with Roman, grinning at him.

Roman flushed red and looked away, embarrassed by the fact that he had been staring Rory directly in the face. He guessed that a lot of people looked at him like that, because when he looked to his left, he saw a blonde girl swooning at Rory’s smile.

Rory mouthed, ‘Did you finish the worksheet?’

Roman shook his head. ‘I can’t figure out number five.’

‘Oh, it’s like, she’s upset about her boyfriend or something leaving, so she ‘falls apart like a decayed rose.’ It’s something weirdly poetic.’

‘Well, it is a poem, Rory.’

Rory smiled sheepishly. ‘Shut up.’

Roman began to mouth, ‘Thank you,’ and Rory grinned back and mouthed, ‘No problem.’ Roman scribbled down the answers while Rory tried to process the fact that Roman James, a global superstar, had been staring at him like the blonde girl was. He tried to hide the fact that he was blushing but he noticed Roman was looking at him again.

‘Roman, watch this,’ he mouthed.

‘Okay,’ Roman replied.

‘Watch the blonde girl to your left.’

Roman nodded, so Rory looked her dead in the eye, flicked his eyebrows up, and winked at her. She buried her face in her hands, clearly blushing. Rory grinned back at Roman, who was trying to contain a laugh.  
‘It’s my special superpower.’

Roman smiled. ‘As opposed to your non-special superpowers.’

‘Hey!’

Roman giggled. ‘Can you really do that to every girl?’

‘Every girl and most boys.’ Rory winked, making Roman turn a light shade of pink.

‘See?’

‘You’re horrible.’

‘I know.’

When the teacher allowed them to move around and talk for the last few minutes of class, Rory walked straight over to Roman and sat in the chair in front of him. Roman looked down a little, trying not to meet Rory’s eyes. “Do you actually like boys?”

“Bitch, I love boys. Boys are the best things. They’re really cute and sweet and God I love them. I mean, girls are cool too, but boys. Mmm. I love them.”

Roman snorted. “I thought you were bi.”

“I am. I said girls were cool too. But I like boys better because boys are wonderful.”

Roman blushed, which made Rory blush, and they both started laughing.

“No. For real though, I do prefer guys. The sex is way more fun.”

Roman laughed again. “You’ve already had sex before?”

“When I turned sixteen, I used to have it a lot. Then, I was kind of just like, ‘No, that’s probably a really bad idea.’ So, I stopped, and now I guess I’m waiting until I turn eighteen so nothing’s illegal.”

“I’ve never had sex before.”

“Really? Even though you’re like a really popular celebrity?”

Roman shook his head. “I don’t really have a lot of sex appeal. Besides, my parents would literally shoot me if I had sex instead of ‘working on a new episode of my show’ or ‘memorizing lines.’”

“They really do that?”

“Yeah. It stresses me the fuck out. Like holy shit, sex can take like five minutes, calm down. It would also put me in a better mood because of the hormones.” Roman sighed. “It makes me want to scream.”

“But you’re taking a year off acting, right? That’s why you’re here?”

“I’m taking a year off, but my parents still tell me to go on interviews and stuff, because if I stay out of the public eye too long, people lose interest in me.” Roman looked down. “And God forbid I get out of the public eye. My parents would kill me.”

Rory frowned. “Why?”

“Because they never got the chance to be in the spotlight, and now that I’m famous, I’m dragging in all of this money. I barely get to use it, though. I get maybe a hundred dollars for myself out of every ten thousand I make, and the rest goes to them. They don’t put any of the money into a savings account for college, either. They probably won’t even let me go to college anyway, because I’m already a prestigious actor. But it all goes back to having a famous son that makes a lot of money that really makes them want to keep me. They always wanted to be celebrities and have a shitload of money, so…”

Roman sighed sadly. “I guess their dream came true.”

Rory looked at him sympathetically, and stood. “Come here.”

Roman obeyed, and walked over to Rory, who wrapped his arms around Roman and hugged him. No one really noticed, but Roman’s heartbeat still seemed to go faster. He felt Rory’s beating speed up too. Rory’s embrace made him feel small and soft, and cuddled more into the taller boy’s grasp. He also noticed that Rory smelled incredibly good, like a warm blanket that had been freshly laundered. When Rory released him from the hug, he was sad that it was over, wanting to be in those warm, protective arms again.

Rory couldn’t believe that he had just done that. He also couldn’t believe that Roman had snuggled into his chest just like that. He also couldn’t believe that Roman hadn’t immediately pulled away, repulsed by him. He hadn’t really wanted to let go, but to avoid it being awkward in class, he had to. If he had Roman all to himself though, alone, maybe things would be different.

“Thank you.” Roman smiled softly at Rory. “You smell good.”

“Really?” Rory sniffed himself.

Roman let out a giggle, which made Rory almost launch himself across Roman’s desk and press their lips together. “Yeah. Like a blanket.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“No, like the kind of blanket that I like to snuggle up in.” Roman pulled his arms to his chest, making it look like he was cozy and cuddled up in a bed. “Sleeping is nice.”

“Yeah,” Rory said absentmindedly, trying to stray his mind from the thoughts of cuddling Roman to sleep. Then, all of a sudden, the clock changed to 8:50 and everyone began to stand up and leave. He then looked back at Roman as he began to stand up. “Y’know, you’re always welcome to cuddle with me or hug if you want.”

Roman blushed, looking away from Rory. “Anytime I want?”

Rory smirked at him. “Anytime you want.”

Roman smiled, clearly flustered. “Good.”

Rory reached his hand out, offering to help Roman stand up. Roman took it, and marvelled at the softness and warmness of Rory’s hands. He stood, picking up his things, and noticed he was surprisingly close to Rory. Rory moved  
his hand upwards to look closely at Roman’s hand, taking notice of the freckles that dotted the back of his palm and the delicateness of his fingers. He raised Roman’s hand upwards, looking for objections on Roman’s face, but Roman seemed in awe, so Rory leaned his head down a little and kissed it.

Roman almost lost his shit. He could not believe that on his second day of school, he was already getting hit on by possibly the hottest boy in the entirety of the United States of America. Maybe it was because Roman was a celebrity, but Rory was taking care to get to know Roman and be sweet to him anyway. He couldn’t believe his luck.

“C’mon,” Rory said, grinning. “It’s time for Spanish.”

Roman was still too shocked to speak. He could barely move. Rory smirked. “Do you need me to help you walk?”

Roman nodded slowly, his mouth still hanging open a little. Rory began to guide Roman out of the classroom, slowly intertwining their fingers. Roman had done love scenes with boys before, ones where he held hands, cuddled, and maybe even kissed them, but never before had Roman had actual feelings for the guy holding his hand. It felt like a dream, maybe this is what the characters he played felt when they were having the same experience, just… real.

Walking down the hall seemed to go in slow motion. People watched him and Rory holding hands, walking towards Mrs. Martinez’ class. Girls looked at his face, then the hands joining him, then up at Rory, who was casually walking as if this was a normal thing. Boys seemed to snicker judgmentally until they saw Rory. Roman seemed to have to take a few deep breaths, and Rory noticed, looking down at Roman. “You okay?”  
Roman shakily nodded, and continued staring at the floor. Rory squeezed his hand and began to rub circles with the pad of his thumb on the back of Roman’s hand, trying to reassure him. “I can let go if you want.”  
Roman shook his head and held Rory’s hand tighter. Rory smiled gently. “You’re sure you’re fine? I promise to let go if I’m making you uncomfortable.”

“You’re not making me uncomfortable, I promise. It’s just- everyone staring makes me anxious.”

“An actor scared of people?”

“I perform in front of cameras, and besides, these are high school students, not fellow actors or a studio audience. They kind of just… stress me out a little.”

Rory nodded, comfortingly rubbing Roman’s hand. “It’s alright. I’ve got you.”

And Roman James was sure that he had the biggest, fattest crush in the world on Rory Stevens.

 

“Callie?” Roman asked the next day while he and Callie were in the lunch line.

“Hmm?” She looked over her shoulder at him.

“So… I like this guy…”

Callie smirked. “It’s Rory, isn’t it?”

“How do you know?!”

“Because everyone and their dog has a crush on him. He’s an athlete, and he’s tall, and he’s hot. Practically husband material.”

“Do you like him?”

“Used to. I stopped once I figured out he was geared towards boys, so the chances of him dating me were slim. He’s dated maybe eight boys and just three girls in the past four years.”

Roman’s heart sank. “So even if I do end up going out with him, it’ll only be for a few months?”

Callie shrugged. “You never know. He’s one of those guys that believes in true love, but none of his past relationships have really worked out for him.”

“What happened?”

“His past significant others just wanted him to buy them shit. He’s more of the type to want to cuddle and fall asleep with someone in his arms, rather than go to Gucci every week.”

“How do you know this?”

“I’m one of his friends. He trusts every single one of his friends with his secrets.” Callie picked up her lunch tray, pointing at the hamburger she wanted, then saying to the lunch lady, “Hamburger, please.”

She then turned back to Roman. “He’ll probably end up having a crush on you, don’t worry. You’re cute enough, and plus, you’re Roman James, globally-known celebrity.”

Roman sighed. “Well, I don’t want him to date me just because I’m Roman James. I want him to date me because he actually likes me. I’m kind of sick of people wanting to be my friend or boyfriend just because I’m a popular celebrity.”

“I get it. I mean, not to your degree of famousness, but like, I’m cheer captain, so everyone obviously wants to get into my pants all the time.”

Roman nodded. “I’m glad that’s relatable for us, because now we’re true friends, right?”

Callie laughed. “Yeah. But back to Rory, he’s too sweet to only want to date you for your fame. If you end up going out with him, he’ll fall hard for you. It’s really cute, in all honesty.”

Roman smiled softly. “I’ll try.”

“There you go.” Callie picked up her hamburger, and then Rory crashed into her. “Rory, what the hell?!”

“Sorry, I just- it’s important, it’s about Ro-” He noticed Roman, and stopped. “Never mind. I’ll tell you later. Very important. You need to help me.”

“Why can’t you just tell me now?” Callie picked up a milk carton, and Roman trailed behind her, starting to internally freak out.

“Because the subject of the conversation is right there,” Rory hissed, pointing at Roman.

“Well, if he’s the subject, why can’t we all just talk about it?” Callie smirked.

Rory flushed red, looking from Roman, who was pretending to look confused, then back to Callie, who was still smirking. “You’re horrible. I’ll text you about it later.”

“Okay. C’mon, Roman.” Callie began to walk to a lunch table. Roman followed, and Rory walked away briskly, flinging open the lunch door and yelling at another one of his friends to talk to him.

“He definitely likes you.” Callie sat down where Jake was, playing on his iPhone.

“Ooh, who likes Roman?” He asked.

“Rory,” Callie responded, and took a huge bite of her hamburger.

Roman turned red. “He was… talking about… me… he has a crush… on… me… I can’t deal with this, Callie.”

“Oh, Roman, sweetheart, you two will be madly in love by next week. Don’t worry, it’ll be wonderful.” Callie patted him on the head. “Wow, your curls are really soft, what kinds of product do you use?”

“I don’t use product, I use a shitload of conditioner,” Roman mumbled. “Why does the hottest boy in the universe like me?”

“Because you’re cute.” Jake didn’t take his eyes off of his phone.

Roman poked at his sandwich. “But like… ugh.”

“Why are you so upset about this? Your crush likes you. That’s something to be happy about.”

“I don’t know. It’s just overwhelming, I guess.”

“Yeah. It’ll be fun once you guys start dating, though.”

Roman nodded, slowly, trying to eat and wish his thoughts of cuddling and making out with Rory away.

 

Thursday.

In orchestra, they were allowed to have individual practice time or practice with another person or a group of people. Rory poked Roman with his cello bow and asked, “Want to use one of the practice rooms?”  
Roman nodded, picking up his cello and his music, then followed Rory out into the hall and then into one of the practice rooms. It was one of the larger ones with a piano and enough room for two or three cellists to practice freely. He pulled one of the chairs into the room and sat down, putting the music stand in between the chair that Rory had set down, and smiled up at the taller boy.

Rory sat down next to Roman and began to look through their music. “What do you want to do first?”

Roman shrugged. “You pick.”

“Uh… Perseus?”

Roman nodded, and pulled out the music. He counted off, and the two began to play the aggressive cello part together. Rory admired the way Roman’s fingers danced up the strings delicately and the way his curls bounced whenever he played something particularly quick. When they got to the mysterious, quiet part, Roman took the bottom part and Rory took the top, them both playing the chords softly.

They got to the cello melody quite quickly and started playing the even more mysterious tones strongly. Rory kept watching Roman, watching as the small boy’s brow furrowed as he played notes, and he smiled when they got to one of the most beautiful parts.

Then, the music quickened and rose to a forte. Roman’s head began to bob quicker, as the tempo increased and it changed to twelve/eight time. They kept going, going faster and having increasingly more fun as it went on, playing the quarter notes needed to get to the climax of the song.

And then, after a few measures of rest, it was there. Them playing the wonderful cello melody, and even if it was just them playing in a room together, it sounded amazing as they began to finish the song. Chord after chord, they moved their bows, doing the delicate arpeggios, and then with six quick notes, they were done.

“There are some really shitty fingerings in here, can I change them?” Rory asked.

Roman nodded. As Rory went through the piece, looking for things he could change, he started making conversation with Roman. “The themes of this piece are really nice. It sounds like it could be put into a romance movie or something.”

“Yeah. It would definitely work in a short film about like, requited love or something.”

Rory nodded. “Requited love definitely sounds right for this.”

Roman giggled. “Even though it’s about the Greek hero Perseus.”

“Well, Perseus had requited love with Andromeda, right?”

“Yeah, well, she only liked him for two reasons: he was hot and he saved her from a sea dragon.”

Rory rolled his eyes, smiling. “Requited love. Shut up.”

“I guess. I think the plot for the short film would be like, the first happy part: the exposition of the male and the female, and then the mysterious part, the male leaves or something, but then at the intense part before the climax, he realizes he loves the female and goes home to tell her, then at the climax with the nice cello melody, he gets back to her and smacks her right on the lips.”

“Ew, heterosexuality.”

Roman shoved Rory, giggling. “But that’s how it would be if it were a film.”

“If it were a short film, it wouldn’t be. It would be gay as fuck, Roman, because that’s how short films are. And you, ultimate gay boy of the millenium, would be the lead.”

“No!” Roman laughed. “I’m too submissive and clingy to leave someone and then travel back.”

“Ugh, fine. Female lead.”

“Except it’s bottom-male-lead, because it’s gay.”

“Who’s going to play the top-male-lead?” Rory asked.

Roman seemed to think for a second. “Hmm… Chris Pine.”

Rory laughed. “I think anyone in their right mind would want to fuck Chris Pine.”

Roman shrugged. “I think you’re right. But like, would you or him top?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, you both radiate big dick energy.”

Rory laughed. “Personally, I think the taller one tops.”

“So you’d top.”

“Yep.” Rory smirked. “I am the tallest. I am unfuckable.”

“There are millions of people taller than you.”

“Bet!”

“There’s a few pianists that are tall and have big hands-”

“Haha, I play the piano too! I am a tall pianist!” Rory sang. “Ha!”

“You do?” Roman raised an eyebrow.

“Yep. Want me to play you something?”

“Yes, please.”

Rory set down his cello and practically skipped over to the piano. He played a quick arpeggiated chord with a C-major chord, then set his hands on the piano. “What do you want me to play?”

“Um…” Roman seemed to think. “Can you play Für Elise?”

Rory snorted. “Can I play Für Elise. Hmm. The answer is yes. It’s impeccably easy.”

Roman flushed red. “Well, I didn’t know!”

“I get asked to play it all the time. But since you’re Roman,” Rory booped Roman on the nose, “I will play it for you.”“Y’know, just because I’m a celebrity doesn’t mean you have to give me the full access pass.”

“And y’know, just because you’re a celebrity doesn’t mean I’m referring to that.” Rory smiled. “I like you. As a person. Not a celebrity. Which is why I’m going to play piano for you.”

Roman began to softly smile. “You really like me for me?”

“You’re a very likable person. Now, hush and let the sweet tones of this shitty, out-of-tune piano caress your heartstrings lovingly.” Rory placed his fingers in the places that he needed. Roman giggled, and began to watch as Rory took a breath and started playing.

It was like a bliss, hearing Rory play. His fingers danced over the keys in a way that seemed to entice Roman, and he couldn’t help but smile at how amazing Rory was at this instrument. Roman watched Rory concentrate, delicately placing his fingers on each key, hitting every one at the right time, pushing the reverb pedal to create a little more tone and life.

It was wonderful, watching Rory. His face was gorgeous as he closed his gray eyes and opened them, looking through those round, thin-wire glasses and just playing. It made Roman’s heart leap, the emotions that Rory put into the piece.

He kept changing the piece, adding in different melodies, but it always, always went back to that familiar minor second pattern that moved into arpeggios. His hair was falling into his eyes, but Rory knew the piece too well to be distracted by such a small thing. He just kept on playing, until he hit the final chord, holding it out, drinking in every last second of sound and tone that he could get, and removed his hands from the piano.

Roman was staring in awe at him, looking at possibly the most handsome boy in the world, who was gazing back with the same amount of compassion, smiling brightly. They could almost feel the compassion when they leaned in towards each other, breath becoming hotter with each inch that they got closer to each other’s lips-

“Who was playing Für Elise?” The orchestra teacher, Mrs. Quinn opened the door, walking in. Roman and Rory both flinched away from each other and turned red. “Oh, hello, boys. Rory, was that you?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, face still hot with shame from being almost caught kissing Roman.

“Well, it was a lovely rendition. You should play it for the talent show or something. Just wonderful.” She sighed. “It reminds me of my husband- he was a pianist, you know…”

Rory did not know or give a flying fuck about him, he just wanted Mrs. Quinn to leave so that he could kiss Roman- but he was sure that the mood for any kissing whatsoever had dissipated from the room. Fucking excellent.  
Roman was still covering his face, blushing hard. It was just like any typical sitcom cliché. Boy and his lover lean in for their first kiss, and get interrupted by some random person. For the first time, the cliché wasn’t funny to him- it was regretful, because now Mrs. Quinn was rambling on about how Für Elise was played at her husband’s funeral and looked close to tears, rather than him kissing Rory for the very first time.

“...anyway, yes. I’m sorry for my rambling.”

‘No, you’re not.’ Rory was seething. All he wanted was to be able to kiss his adorable, wonderful crush, and the opportunity was completely stolen by the orchestra teacher talking about her dead husband. Rory felt a little guilty for being rude about her husband, but he felt she was a little rude too for walking in on him about to have his first kiss with the perfect boy.

She didn’t know. It wasn’t her fault. Rory took a few deep breaths. “It’s fine.”

“I’ll be going now. Thank you.” She gave them both a little smile and left.

Rory wanted to rip his hair out, but he kept his cool. He coughed. “We need to work on the other pieces.”

Roman nodded, feeling hot tears start to prick at his eyes, but he forced them down. He had done this so many times before. He would be fine.

As Rory turned the pages to find another piece they could play, he couldn’t help but feel like he had done something wrong.

 

Friday. The last day he would be mentoring Roman. Roman seemed a little stiff towards him, so Rory automatically felt like he had done something wrong. He started to worry, wondering if leaning in for a kiss yesterday was wrong, that the crush was wrong, if Roman didn’t want to talk to him anymore because of it. The thought physically pained him.

Throughout his classes, Roman looked over sadly at Rory. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, why he was shutting Rory out- it wasn’t Rory’s fault that their kiss got interrupted. He wanted more than nothing to kiss him- but he was shutting him out. It would be impossible for Rory to do it now, if Roman was being tense towards him.

Rory guided Roman to his classes, still tried to be friendly, but it just seemed awkward. He was about to apologize, but he was never able to work up the courage.

But, at the end of the day, when Rory dropped Roman off in his seventh period, his heart finally burst and he called out, “Roman, wait.”

Roman turned around, piercing him with his icy blue eyes. Rory faltered, but then remembered what he was doing and pulled out a small piece of paper, scribbling something down on it. Roman waited and held out his hand when Rory offered the paper to him.

“It’s my number,” Rory choked out. “You can text me- or call me, if you want. Only if you want. Not forcing you too. I just thought- maybe you’d like-”

As Rory stuttered, Roman smiled softly, walked up to him and sweetly kissed him on the cheek. “I will text you as soon as I get my phone.”

And Rory’s heart had never swelled more as he watched Roman walk away, humming to himself as he moved to his next class.


End file.
